Nov. 16, 2008
Final Stats | Quotes
Stanford's NCAA Tournament Page
STANFORD, Calif. - Five different Stanford players found the net this afternoon, as the top-seeded Cardinal blasted Kansas 5-0 in the second round of the 2008 NCAA DI Women's Soccer Championship at Laird Q. Cagan Stadium.
For the first 20 minutes of the game, it didn't look as if Stanford would have an easy route to the victory. The Cardinal came out flat and was struggling to string together passes and put away its chances, and the Jayhawks used that to their advantage. Kansas created a few scoring chances against the Stanford back line, but was also unable to find the net.
Then, the Cardinal began to take over the game, and just after 30 minutes, everything changed.
Junior Kelley O'Hara got things started, breaking the stalemate in the 34th minute. O'Hara took a pass from junior Ali Riley, and crushed the ball into the upper-left corner.
After that, the floodgates opened; as the Cardinal rolled on to score two more goals before the half.
"We got that first one, and then our confidence grew immensely," said head coach Paul Ratcliffe.
Just four minutes after the first tally, Riley earned her second assist of the game and Hillary Heath recorded her first goal of the year to make it 2-0. The goal marked the 11th time this year that the Cardinal has scored back-to-back goals within five minutes, and Heath became the 11th Stanford player this year to post a goal.
Camille Levin knocked in the third goal at 41:49, putting the game even further out of Kansas' reach. Levin received the ball from O'Hara on the right side, found her opening, and neatly chipped the ball from 25 yards out over the Jayhawks' goalie Julie Hanley, sending Kansas into halftime with its largest first half deficit of the season.
After the half, the Jayhawks surrendered a fourth goal to the Cardinal at 64:39, when junior Christen Press got on the board with her second goal of the weekend. Press caught Hanley off her line, and floated the ball over her from close to 35 yards out.
Sophomore Morgan Redman closed out the scoring as the fifth-different player to notch a goal in the game at 77:46. Senior Kelley Birch played a through-ball from the left side, and Redman beat both a defender and goalkeeper Stephanie Baugh to slip the ball into the net.
"We have a great team; the girls are working very hard," said Ratcliffe. "They deserve the success they're getting. Now we just have to keep it going as we move on."
With the victory, Stanford now advances to the third round and will face Rutgers, which knocked off Oklahoma State in penalty kicks after a nil-nil draw, 4-2, on Friday, Nov. 21 at 7 p.m. at Cagan Stadium. This is the third-straight year the Cardinal have advanced to the third round of the NCAA Tournament.